


Halloween Party

by hellostarlight20



Series: If only... [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Halloween, If You Squint - Freeform, Introspection, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 12:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15048788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellostarlight20/pseuds/hellostarlight20
Summary: So, @zoebelle9 wanted Ten x Rose Halloween Party. My brain read Nine x Rose. Don’t worry, it’s got both! And Jack! Cause why not?FluffangstintrospectionRose thoughtsSmitten Doctor





	Halloween Party

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZoeBelle9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeBelle9/gifts).



“A Halloween Party?” Rose frowned and shook her head. “No, I’m good. You go on.”

She settled deeper into the seat, head propped on her hand, and watched the Doctor fiddle with the wires under the console. Seriously, that man’s hands were beautiful. And with his jacket temptingly close behind her and his sleeves rolled up?

Rose was perfectly content to sit right where she sat and not move for as long as the Doctor didn’t.

“Come on, Rosie,” Jack wheedled. “A costume party! Who doesn’t love dressing up?”

The Doctor snorted, and Rose reluctantly tore her gaze from his hands to look at Jack. “Not big on dressing up,” she admitted. “I always feel out of place.”

“You told me you love dressing up!” The Doctor straightened, eyes wide and blazing as they met hers.

“I do!” Rose straightened, flushing. “There’s a difference,” she muttered.

He watched her another moment then nodded. “Ah.”

“Just last week you dressed in those white robes on Kintar!” Jack frowned. “And you told me that you always dress when you and the Doctor land in historical times.”

“That’s different.” Rose sighed and tried again. She bit her lip and sorted her words, hoping they made sense. There was a difference. “Dressing up in period clothing or because the people of a planet offered for their ceremony is different than dressing in a costume that isn’t me at all.”

“But that’s the whole point of Halloween!” Jack dropped on the seat beside her. Rose glanced at him then at the Doctor who now watched her with that soft, understanding look that made her heart flip. “It’s to be who you aren’t.”

Rose shifted uncomfortably. She always had to pretend to be someone she wasn’t—with her mum, with Mickey. Always. No matter the situation, she had to pretend she fit in on the Estate, didn’t want more, had been content to live there.

Finally she shrugged. “I never know what to go as. And whatever I dress up as, it’s never as good as in my head.”

There. She admitted it. No one understood her reluctance, not her mum, not Mickey or Shareen, no one. They all dressed up in cheap costumes and proceeded to drink until it didn’t matter. Rose hated the cheap costumes. They never came in her size, never fit properly, and she hated the pre-made ideas.

She wanted to create her own costume to her specifications. But that required money. And time. Neither of which she’d had in abundance.

“Rose.” The Doctor took her hand and she stood, automatically threading their fingers together. He squeezed, gaze soft, lips quirked in that little half-grin. “Why don’t you look in the Wardrobe Room?” He stepped back toward the rest of the TARDIS. “I’m sure you’ll find something there.”

A year later, new Doctor, sans Jack, Rose looked around the Wardrobe Room.

They’d all gone to Jack’s Halloween Party that night, Jack as a sexy pirate and the Doctor as the Doctor. Rose had worn a flowing white toga-like gown with gold armbands, a heavy gold necklace she had never been able to decide was real or not, and pearls—also probably real but she hoped not—threaded through her hair.

She didn’t remember much of the party. Only that feeling of being the most beautiful woman there. The Doctor had watched her as she mingled with a group Jack met who-knew-where and the feel of his gaze on her, the protective watchfulness of it, even now shivered along her skin.

It hadn’t been the expense of the jewelry but the fact of it. In her head, a well-to-do Roman woman looked the part. Makeup, hair, jewelry, even if it was fake. And for the first time in her life, Rose looked the part of her costume. She looked like a rich Roman.

“Rose?” The Doctor—the new Doctor’s—voice startled her, and she jumped. “You’re not ready?”

“No.” She cleared her throat and glanced around the room. She’d never felt awkward around the Doctor. Before. But this new Doctor—new, new Doctor—felt different. Or maybe it was the way he stared at her, the open longing in his gaze that confused her.

“I, ah—” she breathed out a chuckle and met his gaze— “I don’t know what to wear.”

Rose had no idea what look came over his face, the slightly glazed gaze, the soft quirk of his lips she instantly recognized. The Doctor awkwardly cleared his throat and tugged his ear. The movements shattered the image of her previous Doctor.

“How about—” he cleared his throat, brown eyes steady on hers— “how about the white toga with the gold jewelry? You looked beautiful in that.”

Her heart flipped and her stomach jumped and her chest tightened with those words. Rose’s cheeks heated, though she vainly hoped he didn’t notice. Her smile widened, and her tongue teased the corner of her mouth.

“Yeah?”

The Doctor nodded, his own smile widening. “Oh, yes.”

“Jack said it made me look like a true goddess.” Her tone turned wistful, though Rose tried her best not to talk about Jack. But she missed him.

“A goddess,” the Doctor repeated, a longing, reverent quality in his words that startled her. “Yes.” But then he cleared his throat. “More than Fortuna,” he added with a wink. “Though you’re my Fortuna.”

Laughing, giddy at his words and the implicit meaning behind them, Rose wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Yeah, maybe I’ll skip the toga thing. Too soon after Rome.”

“Naa, it’s perfect.” The Doctor’s smile matched hers—wide and happy and yes. Yes, this was exactly what she’d missed. The closeness between them. “Maybe this time I’ll even change.”

Rose placed a hand to her heart and gasped in mock surprise. “More than your jumper?”

“For you, Rose, my Fortuna, anything.”

Her breath stopped, lungs flatly refusing to work lest this moment evaporate, Rose dumbly nodded. For a heartbeat it looked as if the Doctor wanted to kiss her. He leaned closer, eyes dark and intent on hers. But then he stepped back and whistled, wandering the row of clothing.

Rose stepped after him, determined to kiss him. She stopped, heart racing. If only…


End file.
